Global Celebration: Dancing with the Gods

Ellipsis Arts produced a good deal of new-age material back in the Nineties, but it also issued some very fine world music recordings, including a pair of box sets called Global Meditation and Global Celebration that culled samples of amazing performances from around the globe.  These are returned to on a regular basis and are always entertaining and enjoyable.

The "Dancing with the Gods" disc from Global Celebration is typical in terms of the wide array of songs gathered.  Tunes from Africa, Brazil, the Muslim world, China, Latvia, Bolivia, India, Italy and a rousing American gospel piece are examples.  All have some religious significance to them, though being religious is certainly not a requirement to enjoy the great sounds found on the disc.

Highlights for this listener include "Dance of Kwenyii," from Africa; "The Avatamsaka Assemble" from China; Bachir Attar's "Ceremonies Against Night of the Devil"; "Pollerita" from Bolivia; The Indian "Snake Charmer Melody" excerpt; an Azerbaijani performance "Doyma Chaya"; and the Halima Chedli Ensemble's "Mohammed Rasoul Allal" excerpt.  The minor trade-off with compilations like these are the excerpted material; it would be great to hear the full versions.

The sound quality is excellent, the performances uniformly inspiring, and a portion of the original sales of the recordings were donated to the Rainforest Alliance (click here for more), which works to conserve the world's rapidly diminishing tropical rainforests.

So, yes, the new-age emphasis of much of Ellipsis Arts' output, the dated graphics on the cover, the titles of the series and individual albims aside, these compilations are chock full of some of the best music found throughout this remarkable, endangered planet.  We might do better for our world if more of us took the time to better understand the human diversity on it, including its music.

Ohm+: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music (Special Edition)

While the Ellipsis Arts label was best known for its "new age" and "world music" releases during its 1990s heyday, it did issue, in 2005, an interesting and notable triple-disc, with a bonus DVD, anthology, Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music.  Bad puns aside, this is an impressive collection spanning pre-1980s performances mainly from the so-called "classical" world, though there are contributions from some composers outside of that generalized genre.

There is quite an array of composers represented here, from well-known figures like John Cage, Terry Riley, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve Reich, La Monte Young, Milton Babbitt, Edgard Varese, Olivier Messiaen to lesser-known, but important, pioneers like Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Lucier, the MEV collective, Morton Subotnick, Pierre Schaeffer, Luc Ferrari, and those outside "classical" and academic circles like Holger Czukay, Kalus Schulze, and Brian Eno.  Even the inclusion of a 1999 version of Reich's "Pendulum Music," in which suspended microphones are swung in pendulum movements to generate sound, by noise-rock legends Sonic Youth is something of a bridge between "serious music" and the pop-rock world.

Obviously, music like this is going to have a polarizing effect on most people, a great many of whom would find this unlistenable noise.  There is, however, a range of material with some pieces moving more towards some form of accessibility than others.  For example, the haunting excerpt from Tchaikovsky's "Valse Sentimentale" pairs piano with the strange and wonderful sounds of the theremin, as played by its greatest exponent, Clara Rockmore.

Messiaen's "Orasion" is also other-worldly, with its "ondes martenot,"a keyboard that provides pitch changes through a ribbon and a ring, and which is also linked to traditional music.  Babbitt's "Philomel" blends the human voice with the electronics in an appealing way.  Oliveros's stunning "Bye Bye Butterfly" skillfully wends excerpts from "Madama Butterfly" into her improvised electronic stew.

Subotnick's "Silver Apples of the Moon" had the distinction of being the first commissioned work by a major label, Nonesuch in this case, for an electronic composition.  Riley's looped piece "Poppy Nogood" [really, "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band"] is an amazing work using soprano saxophone, inspired by the great John Coltrane, and organ to develop a time-lag effect with a patch cord.

Czukay's mesmerizing "Boat-Woman Song" has medieval choral singing with the over-dubbed samples of simple and haunting folk singing to give it a highly memorable effect.  Paul Lansky's computer-generated "Six Fantasies on a Poem by Thomas Campion" has a warm and enveloping sounds of vocalizations of the poetic works that is quite beautiful.  Another computer-geneated piece, Laurie Spiegel's "Applachian Grove I" has a quiet, ambient approach to creating something that has melodic associations.

Alvin Curran's "Canti Illuminati," one of the longer excerpts, is a fascinating aural experience with a sequencer, a VCS3 (used by some "progressive" rock groups in the early 70s) and the addition of bass tones and the addition of falsetto vocalizations at the end softens the electronics.  Lucier's unplanned excursion "Music on a Long Thin Wire" has a droning, ambient quality that builds off a tuning from an oscillator and seems like a possible precursor to so-called "isolationist" electronic music.

Hassell's "Before and After Charm (La Notte)" has an eerie and compelling repetition of percussive sound accompanying keyboard drones in varying tones and his highly effective in giving an "Eastern" vibe, thanks to the composer's interest in Indian music.  Finally, Eno's "Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills)" is a characteristiclly understated, yet warm, ambient piece that closes out the CD portion nicely.

The DVD is a great bonus, especially the filmed footage of performances and interviews, including one with Rockmore talking with her sister, nephew and Robert Moog, inventor of the (in)famous synthesizer, about her work with the theremin and its inventor, as well as a snippet of a performance with her and her sister pianist.  A great, though very short, clip of Paul Lansky being shown how to play the eerie instrument by an aged Leon Theremin in the latter's Moscow apartment in the waning days of teh Soviet Union is remarkable.

Milton Babbitt gives an entertaining and informative 1987 interview about his early associations with experimental electronic music, including the Mark I and II synthesizers.  A lengthy performance on film from Lucier dating to 1965 is of his incredible "Music for Solo Performer."  Here, Lucier is hooked by electrodes to several types of percussion, including a trash can, and uses his brainwaves to send waves in varying speeds and energy to play the percussion instruments.

A 2005 performance of "Bye Bye Butterfly" by Oliveros with visualizartions by Tony Martin is also something to behold--gorgeous musical conception with a visual accompaniment that fully supports the performance.

Finally, there is a six-minute segment from a documentary on Robert Moog, to whom the DVD is dedicated and who died in 2005, just prior to the release of the special edition.  This interview with Moog about his creation is an excellent capstone to a superb anthology (provided that the listener has any inclination towards electronic music to begin with, that is.)

One last word about the package:  Ellipsis Arts outdid itself (and it was at the end of its tether at the time) with a beautiful box for the discs in a clear plastic sleeve, while the 112-page booklet is chock full of commentary by the composers and others about the excepted pieces and a wealth of great photos.  It really is a work of art that fully complements and serves the amazing sounds found on the four discs.

Global Meditation: Authentic Music from Meditative Traditions of the World

So, the title sounds very New Age-y and the label, Ellipsis Arts, which issued this four-disc box set in 1992, was devoted to products that emphasized the deeply spiritual in a highly earnest, if dated, manner.

However, the musical content and the sound quality of Global Meditation is top-notch.  The set is divided thematically, with the first disc dealing with "Voices of the Spirit: Songs and Chants."  From Norway, Albania, Australia, Bali, Hawaii, the pygmies of Central Africa, Japan, Tibet, and Russia are a broad array of vocal music that, philosophizing aside, represent a fantastic cross-section of sounds from around the world.

The second disc, "Harmony and Interplay: Ensembles," takes on large group performances from the Gnawa of Morocco, gamelan from Java, African group playing, the amazing Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Pakistani qawwali music, and Indian and Egyptian pieces, as well.  Putting gnawa, gamelan and qawwali on one disc is reason enough to hear this amazing music.

"The Pulse of Life: Rhythm & Percussion" provides a wide range of pieces that should make any percussion lover very happy.  African, Indian, Haitian, and Japanese taiko ensembles predominate here, with a New Age selection by Glen Velez tossed in, though it is a pretty good piece.

Finally, the box ends with "Music of the Heart: Melody," including works Ireland, Turkey, Korea, India, Armenia, China, Egypt and Japan showcasing instruments like the Celtic harp, the Indian bamboo flute, the duduk, and the shakuhachi, among others.  Much of this is solemn, contemplative and very beautiful melodic work.

There is a 32-page booklet giving concise, but very useful, information on the performances, players and traditions from which they developed, as well as some photos of musicians.   Compiler Brooke Wentz and associates did a remarkable job in finding and licensing from many record labels such a diverse range of material and, as explained in the booklet's introductory note, should be congratulated for doing so despite the project representing "a sizable task for our lean staff."

Global Meditation is a great survey of some of the world's most interesting and compelling music.  For those not spiritually oriented, but are interested mainly in the musical quality of the set, there is a bounty of great performances here that are well worth hearing if a copy can be located.

Jali Kunda: Griots of West Africa and Beyond

This is another excellent release by the Ellipsis Arts label, in which kora master Foday Musa Suso, whose work has been highlighted on this blog previously, worked on selecting, coordinating and arranging the selections on this record.

There are fifteen tracks, most recorded in the west African nations of Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and Senegal, with three featuring collaborations between Suso and Western musicians, including composer Philip Glass, jazz saxophone titan Pharoah Sanders, and the ubiquitous Bill Laswell, among others.  These three works are well-done and complement the more traditional pieces, although the liners do explain that "this recording was made with both authenticity and an international audience in mind," specifically in that "the length of the pieces has been substantially shortened."

 

 

That said, there are some marvelous pieces to savor on this record.  There are a few examples, moreover, of duplicated works, though usually with different instrumentation, vocalizations and in location.  For example, the bookend pieces, consisting of a Muslim invocation to Allah, includes a version from Senegal and another from The Gambia.  What is described in the notes as "the most famous Griot song," called "Sunjata," celebrating the warrior king who established the great Mandinka empire in the 1200s, has a version from Guinea-Bissau and another from Senegal.  And, the excellent "Lambango" has a version that uses the xylophone-like balafon and which was recorded in one community in Guinea-Bissau, while another, employing the harp-like kora is from another part of that country.  Another highlight is "Sorrie," a Mandinka tune from The Gambia that has great balafon playing.  One other piece to point out is "Yata Kaya," a Fulani piece from Senegal, which Suso stated was a favorite tune utilizing the one-string fiddle called the nyanyer and which represents the type of music that is starting to fade from the music scene in that country.

 

Of the three "fusion" pieces, "Spring Waterfall" is a Suso piece in which he used effects to create what is described in the notes as "cascading layers of the kora" with Glass playing a non-intrusive piano accompaniment.  "Lamnbasy Dub" has been featured in some compilations produced by Laswell and was originally released on an album called New World Power by Suso's The Mandingo Griot Society and released on the late, great Axiom label, in which he plays an electric kora, while Laswell employs the bass and samples, Jeff Bova, known for his ambient electronic music, plays electric keyboards, and frequent Laswell collaborator Nicky Skopelitis and Clive Smith utilize other programming.  Laswell's bass is particularly effective here.  Finally, there is "Samma," another standout on this record, in which Suso on kora is joined by Sanders on tenor sax for a great blending of instruments, expertise and melody and sound.

 

Ellipsis Arts put together a string of well-chosen, sequenced and produced "world music" recordings in the 1990s and Jali Kunda is an excellent example of the quality of the label's offerings, of which more will be featured here in the future.

 

Jali Kunda: Griots of West Africa and Beyond (Ellipsis Arts . . . 1997)

 

1.  Allah l'aake  2:38

2.  Sunjata  5:40

3.  Sinyaro  3:00

4.  Mariama  4:24

5.  Spring Waterfall  7:17

6.  Jula Faso  3:14

7.  Sunjata  3:03

8.  Lamnbasy Dub  8:19

9.  Jula Jekereh  4:42

10.  Lambango  2:42

11.  Samma  8:25

12.  Sorrie  3:32

13.  Yata Kaya  4:54

14.  Lambango  7:51

15.  Allah l'aake  3:30

Global Meditation: Voices of the Spirit, Songs and Chants

The Ellipsis Arts label was a sister firm to The Relaxation Company, a new age enterprise, and it would be easy to look at the graphics, titling and text of Ellipsis Arts' two box sets, Global Meditation and Global Celebration and reasonably conclude that the music was some hybrid of new age and world music, which to some people did seem to mesh during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when both were in vogue to some measure.

Actually, the Ellipsis Arts boxes were an exploration into the indigenous sources to the new age products that The Relaxation Company offered and it was obviously a very sincere effort, because the four-disc sets are tremendous compilations of the immense variety of native musics found throughout the world.  They are also organized thematically in ways that work very well. 

For this entry, the first disc of the first set, titled (awkwardly) "Voices of the Spirit, Songs and Chants" sets the tone for the remainder of the discs by drawing from "spiritual, ritual and meditative music" from a broad geographical range.  Recordings were obtained from Norway, Albania, aboriginal Australia, Bali and its amazing gamelan music, Hawaiian chanting, the pygmies of Gabon, Japan, England, Tibet, Dahomey, Algeria, and Russia.  They deal with various religious, ritualistic, and spiritual musics that blend remarkably well together--this is an excellent example of effective sequencing of disparate tracks.

The only real complaint is that the disc runs just under 50 minutes, when at least six more tracks or so could have been included.  And, yeah, that cover art and text content is dated.  On the other hand, a portion of the original sale of these discs was donated to The Rainforest Alliance, so Ellipsis Arts deserves kudos for that effort.

Eventually, the other seven discs from the two boxes will make their way onto this blog, because the music contained in the sets is really outstanding for those who enjoy so-called "world music" and you don't have to be of the so-called "new age" mindset to be greatly entertained by the excellent selections included in the sets.